luv2kroooz

Do you consider yourselves to be one of the "contemporary cruisers"? That word gets thrown around a lot but is undefined. My understanding is that NCL is a mass market line, catering to middle income families.

Yeah, sorry to hear about this. They certainly did know about it before final payment. I have never been to St Croix. I don't know, my thought was they want to sail at slower speeds to burn less fuel as opposed to sailing at faster speed which burns more fuel. Who knows. Notwithstanding, the time for planning efficient itineraries is BEFORE you advertise them and BEFORE you take your client's money. That ship has sailed! The Jade is a wonderful ship and I hope you have a good time!

Same topic, different year.

Full disclosure..I copied this from a different thread about the same topic. Thankfully, we are not impacted. However, yes, this change was made after final payment. Our last cruise had four adjustments after final payment. Mostly minor, but still.

Profound.

Here is another example for a March 2024. What an appropriate time to resurrect this thread with the ongoing, recurring issue. In fairness, this itinerary looks to gain a port. We support green initiatives. However, the time for changing this itinerary for green initiatives came and went many many months ago. It is disruptive and inconveniences passengers who are trying to plan for their cruise vacation.

Oh, when I was on it, there was a second pool underneath the waterslides, primarily for kids, but we were on a long cruise so no kids and it became the overflow adult pool!! Many liked it because it wasn't 7 ft deep, lol. Maybe it has been removed. It was pre Corona time. We like Getaway!!

Only a plus if people want to use the 2 pools on Deck 8, where capacity might be 20 people per pool. My observation is the design flaw is much more pronounced on Pr!ma and V!va. Getaway has an extra pool up on Lido.

BINGO......you've correctly identified one of the design flaws with Prima and Viva.... A mass of people trying to use a main pool and deck that are significantly undersized. Demand far exceeds supply making for a poor pool experience and then that same mass of people leaving unfavorable reviews about the ship after their vacation.

Gotcha and I agree. It is all the same in my world. They can call it whatever they want to.

Not sure I follow, NCL has had the highest gratuity charge in the industry, $20, since Corona time. Holland America just raised theirs yesterday to $17. At the end of the day, to tip or not tip is a personal choice. Whatever you are good with, I am too. Cheers.

Totally agree. Yet, I haven't met anyone who cruises solely to use a swimming pool. Agree with respect to size of pools on Prima and Viva....not big, always crowded. Might be better to select a cruise ship with a functionally designed Lido deck, such as Jewel class on NCL or Grand class on Princess. MSC has some inviting pools, too. Decent food USDA inspected on cruises. Galley generally cleaner than restaurants at home or in Punta Cana. Lots to consider.

Yes, NCL changes itineraries after final payment date has passed. It is usually disguised by cryptic reasons, like port congestion, environmental initiatives, operational reasons. And they set you up by telling you how much they are looking forward to welcoming you onboard, they work hard to deliver vacation experiences, and other word salad. Your experience mirrors ours....we have experienced emergency itinerary changes for weather or medical reasons on other lines. Yet, over and above, NCL seems to have an above average of last minute itinerary changes. Celebrity has also been recently in the news in a negative way regarding itinerary changes.

In this case, I can't help you. The question you asked has been answered.

Question was answered previously. By way of reminder, "That can only be determined by the person's intention. If you give it in appreciation for prior service, tip. If it is given with the hope of receiving something in the future, bribe."

Agreed on that. We've done many of the Caribbean beaches. We spend most Caribbean port days onboard enjoying the quieter ship and beverages, which is why a functional Lido deck and swimming pool is so important to us.

Some cruise line pools are like small wading pools. However, many ships ( including some NCL ships) have multiple, large pools, as deep as 6-8 ft. So large, that we often see passengers swimming laps in the early AM or organized pool games, like Volleyball, being conducted as part of the daily programme. They certainly aren't Olympic sized, but I wouldn't use the words wading pools to describe them.

See my post above.

Thanks for posting this. Seating for a hundred with a pool capacity of 15. Hope you don't want to take in the sun. It's probably blocked by the 200 foot ship structure 10 feet behind you. Nice privacy for the balconies, too, as passengers can look right up.....brilliant.

Some compare Viva to Jewel class and it fails miserably on multiple fronts.....🥱🥱

A pool deck like the Jewel class. Functional with multiple pools, spacious, and plenty of deck chairs for all who may want them.

This could vary based on room layout. We had a standard interior room. Ours was up on the high shelf. Our TV was huge compared to the size of the room.

Oh geez didn't realize wonky internet usage was also required. Does it use up your limited minutes, too? Or do you just have to connect to the ships network?

Your well thought out post makes a lot of sense to me. However, for Caribbean itineraries, there is but one small free pool with very little deck space on the main lido deck. There are two or three infinity pools somewhere on a lower deck. They look very, very small to me. We were on Emerald Princess in November which is similar in size to Prima...maybe a bit smaller. There were four freshwater pools....two were huge, one out in the back deck was smaller, and one by their spa was smaller. All free to use. We just found the layout of the Lido deck to be very smart. There was always a place to get a seat.

We liked the included Broadway shows a lot better. Kinda reminds us of Carnival...Hasbro the game show, Family Feud, etc. Carnival was free to play. My understanding is that you pay to play on NCL.